Well, people, it's been interesting reading this group of threads. I've actually learned quite a bit. (No pun intended.) There are a few things that I'd really like to say here, though.

First, the great American farmer right now is the least likely to be able to help this country in such a crisis. The small farmers that haven't gone belly up and foreclosure can barely feed their own families. I know this because I come from an area of small farmers. I grew up on farms. The big, corporate farmers produce loads of grains and whatnot, but there in lies a problem. In order to farm their way, computers cover avery operation, whether they realize it or not. They also use tens of thousands of barrels of diesel every year operating their equip. Don't count on them for your food. Those who use migrant labor may well find themselves without the ability to plant or reap, or market. I feel it will be each community trying to feed itself from locally grown produce. Stock growers are selling off their herds right now at rock bottom prices because they're going under financially due to the drought across the country.

-- Claudette Young (laclaud@cybertrails.com), September 07, 1999

Answers

http://www.fb.com/views/focus/fo99/fo0913.html For the week of Sept. 13, 1999

A Coca-Cola and a Honey Bun

By C. David Kelly

"The price farmers are receiving for a bushel of corn will buy a Coca-Cola and a honey bun. That's pitiful."

Alabama Farm Bureau Federation President Jerry Parham perhaps put the crux of the present farm economy in terms even Joe Sixpack could understand.

Food and fiber producers, frustrated by watching the evening news expound on low unemployment, a soaring stock market and escalating personal income figures, are taking it upon themselves to let America know not everyone is marching in the "Happy Days Are Here Again" parade. "Farm crisis field hearings" are becoming familiar scenes across the United States.

Farmers, who have suffered silently through rock-bottom commodity prices, shrinking foreign markets and a staggering drought, are taking their plight straight to the source that can deliver immediate short-term relief -- elected officials.

"Once this group of farmers is gone, who will grow this country's food?" said cotton producer Macon Landers at a recent field hearing in Tuscumbia, Ala. "Who will raise our cotton that is used to make the shirts we wear or the towels we use to dry our skin?"

Farmers, who pride themselves on self-sufficiency and independence, don't enjoy standing in front of a room full of people talking about their economic struggles. Folks in this neck of the woods would rather gather at the local coffee shop and debate how the University of Alabama and Auburn University will fare on the football field. But, football is far too trivial for most producers who are wondering whether they will still be in business a year from now.

"I have spent the last two weeks listening to farmers," said Charles Bishop, Alabama's Commissioner of Agriculture. "Farmers are in real trouble. I don't think people across the country realize what is happening. I wish I could do more. We need a commitment from our elected officials to do what is needed to help agriculture. We need a commitment from elected officials that they will fight like hell for the farmers in Alabama."

Rep. Thomas E. Jackson, chairman of the Alabama House Agriculture Committee, understands the farmers' plight. He, too, is frustrated that the public is basically oblivious to the farmers' economic struggles. "Farmers deserve more than what they are getting because every aspect of our life depends on them," said Jackson. "We are in a regional and national crisis. We have to have a long- and short-term vision. We need to let people in Washington know we need help and we need help yesterday."

"We are flat on our backs and we cannot last much longer," warned cotton grower Hugh Summerville. "The most pressing need is cash and it must come quickly. We have growers who will not survive this economic crisis."

Landers, whose family has been farming the same land since 1812, summed up many farmers' mood with a sobering reminder to the group in Alabama. He minced few words. "When we're all gone," he said, "you'll all remember us."

C. David Kelly is the assistant director of news services for the American Farm Bureau Federation.

-- marsh (siskfarm@snowcrest.net), September 15, 1999.